Thank you we will now break for 15 minutes.

--Break

I call the committee back to order. We are on page 9-7, activity summary, culture and careers of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, total operations and maintenance is $109,584. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Chairman, I wonder if the Minister could update us as to how things are working with the official languages, now that it has been moved into Education and the negotiation of an agreement. How are things working with the interpreter/translators?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regard to the area of income support, as well as, training programs and career development there was a concern raised in our committee that, as we looked at student financial assistance, it seemed it would be better if you looked at student financial assistance in relation to career development, training and employment development, as well as income support, so that we could have, in fact, one branch of income support with a number of separate areas as opposed to the way it is now. Has any consideration been given to that kind of approach, trying to link it? I just noticed the student financial assistance is separate, right?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr.

Chairman, we have consolidated all of the income support programs into one division so it is all one part of the one department. That does allow us some level of coordination. The Member is right to see that is an opportunity to consolidate the income support initiatives and we have done that.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is the student financial assistance under that as well or did I miss that?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is all within the culture and careers activity, but the student financial assistance is within the income support division.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The way I understand students financial assistance is that it is separate and apart from careers and employment that there are very clear criteria and that there is no actual working connection between SFA and employment development, for instance, or training on the job.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are a number of programs within the income support division, for instance, the seniors fossil fuel subsidy is an income support program. It is administered by the income support division. All of our programs that relate to individual support for people are administered under that division. The expectation is that there will be coordination through that mechanism. If the Member is asking if the programs are the same, the answer is no. The Income Support Program and the support it provides to an individual and the support that is provided to a student from the Student Financial Assistance Program are different, just as the support that is provided to seniors for the fossil fuel subsidy is different. We have different programs, but they are administered by the same people in the same branch of the department.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Chairman, I am having trouble trying to make myself clear. My understanding, after looking at the student financial report is that it dealt strictly with student financial assistance as a stand-alone program. One of the concerns we had was there did not appear to be a linkage and a flow from student financial assistance to career development, employment development and those other kinds of training programs that student financial assistance has very clear, separate criteria. There would seem to be a benefit if there was a better linkage and blending of those particular programs as opposed to keeping them as discrete possibly fragmented programs as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am saying a similar thing. Because the programs are administered by the same division in terms of support, we are enabling people to try and make sure that all programs do work together as best they can. We, as a department, recognize that there has to be a continuum whether you are talking about early childhood intervention, K-12 or adult education. The whole process has to be linked and we do try to work on those linkages within the department. I think you will find that we still keep the programs separately because that is how it is a line item in the budget and here is how much money we need for student financial assistance. The rules for it are distinct, but we do look for ways to coordinate the activities of the department and how we support people to achieve their goals. On the income support side, people are expected to make productive choices. Productive choices could be on-the-job training, upgrading or community college participation.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have submitted, however late, something to the Minister and his staff, so at this point I will just wait and see because we raise that concern in our response to that SFA report. Those are all my questions on that particular item. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. I am on operations and maintenance, total operations and maintenance, $109.584 million. Mr. Erasmus.